Panait Istrati - Early Life

Early Life

Born in Brăila, Istrati was the son of the laundress Joiţa Istrate and of a Greek smuggler from the village of Faraklata in Kefalonia (whom Panait never met).

He studied in primary school for six years in Baldovineşti, after being held back twice. He then earned his living as an apprentice to a tavern-keeper, then as a pastry cook and peddler. In the meantime, he was a prolific reader.

His first attempts at writing date from around 1907, when he started sending pieces to the socialist periodicals in Romania - debuting with the article Hotel Regina in România Muncitoare. Here, he later published his very first short stories - Mântuitorul ("The Redeemer"), Calul lui Bălan ("Bălan's Horse"), Familia noastră ("Our Family"), 1 Mai ("May Day"). He also contributed pieces to other leftist newspapers such as Dimineaţa, Adevărul, and Viaţa Socială.

In 1910, he was involved in organizing a strike action in Brăila. He went to Bucharest, Istanbul, Cairo, Naples, Paris (1913–1914), and Switzerland (where he settled for a while, trying to cure his tuberculosis); Istrati's travels were marked by two successive unhappy marriages, a brief return to Romania in 1915, when he tried to earn his living as a hog farmer, and long periods of vagabondage.

While in the sanatorium, Istrati met Russian Jewish-Swiss Zionist writer Josué Jéhouda, who became his friend and French language tutor.

Living in misery, ill and depressed, he attempted suicide in 1921 on his way to Nice, but his life was rescued in time. Shortly before the attempt, he had written to the French writer he admired most, Romain Rolland, with whom he had tried to get in touch for long. Rolland received the letter through the Police, and immediately replied to this letter. In 1923 Istrati's story Kyra Kyralina (or Chira Chiralina) was published (with a preface by Rolland). It became the first in his Adrien Zograffi literary cycle. Rolland was fascinated with Istrati's adventurous life, urging him to write more, and publishing part of his works in the magazine he and Henri Barbusse owned, Clarté. The next major work by Istrati was his Codine novel.